Ride Divvy 10 Times This Month and You’ll Win a Medal and Get Invited to a Party

On Thursday North and South Korean athletes will make history by marching together under a unified flag at the opening ceremony Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. You can help make history of a more modest sort this month by participating in Divvy’s “Winter Medalist” challenge. Members who use the bike-share system ten times in February will be designated as “Gold Medal” cyclists. To gin up more excitement about winter cycling, Divvy is also releasing a glitzy #DivvyGold bike into the wild and hosting a celebration for the gold medalists.

The challenge started yesterday and runs through Sunday, March 4. Even if you don’t make it to the double digits, members who take five or more rides this month win a silver designation, and if you ride at all you’ll earn a bronze. Everyone who participates will get a “digital medal” via email, and gold medalists will be invited to a victory party on Thursday, March 8 at an undisclosed location.

In addition, riders who find the Willy Wonka-esque golden Divvy, snap a photo, and post it on social media with the hashtag #DivvyGold will be registered to win prizes like single-ride passes and Divvy schwag. $3 single rides are a new Divvy option that launched this month, along with 45-minute trips for members, and the $15 Explorer Pass, which allows users to take as many three-hour excursions as they like within 24 hours.

Daniel Meer and friends on the way to a sledding hill. Photo: Daniel Meer

The press release for the Winter Medalist challenge included photos Daniel Meer and his friends, who carried a snowboard and sled on Divvy bikes to a local sledding hill. I’ve been known to use Divvy to ride to Montrose Harbor with snowshoes in a messenger bag or cross-country skis and poles balanced on my shoulder (kids, don’t try this at home.)

Have you ever used Divvy to take a winter blues-busting cold-weather adventure? Tell us about it in the comments section.

I rode when it was 8F once. The sun was out and I was so excited to see it that I had to pedal. I earned a reputation as a bike nut after that one.

what_eva

so there’s no rules posted defining a ride. can I get a gold medal in like 5 minutes for checking a bike in and out 10 times? I’m not much of a winter rider, but I did ride a week or so ago when it was 50ish and bus bunching screwed me.

johnaustingreenfield

Yes.

Carter O’Brien

Riding a Divvy in this kind of weather is great, everyone assumes you must be insane and they part before you like the Red Sea and Moses.

Fuegofan

Monday I rode Divvy in the morning and evening rush hour from the Loop to NWMH. Temperature was brutal in the morning and my thumbs still hurt. In the evening it was sloppy. But I found the limit when I got to Hyde Park and tried to ride on 57th–way too much ice and snow to safely navigate it on a Divvy.

rwy

This makes me wish I had a divvy dock closer to me.

Courtney

Monday I rode a Divvy bike from the Lawrence Red Line to Damen & Leland (?). My hands were freezing. I don’t have the proper hand gear for riding in the winter but I generally only ride from my apartment to the Red Line and the reverse in the evenings. There was a 15 minute wait for the 81 bus so I knew riding Divvy would be faster. I’m bound to get a Gold medal because I ride Divvy just about every day.

Last month, I won a digital silver medal in the Divvy Winter Olympics, a challenge put on by the bike-share service to encourage cold-weather ridership. I was one of 3,444 Divvy members who won medals during the promotion. Taking five or more trips between December 1 and February 16 got you a bronze medal, 25 […]

[This piece ran last week in Checkerboard City, my column in Newcity magazine, which hits the street on Wednesday evenings. After yesterday’s gorgeous weather, with temperatures in the 50s, I was concerned the piece might seem a bit dated today if I syndicated it on Streetsblog. Fortunately, six-to-eight inches of snow are predicted for this […]